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Topic: Preps for Diabetics (Read 14657 times)

I am starting this topic in the hopes of pooling ideas for the diabetics out there. As the spouse of a newly-diagnosed diabetic, I had to start from scratch and look at my pantry in a whole new light. With the prevalence of diabetes, I'm sure there are a lot of us out there thhat are scratching our heads and trying to figure out how to prepare for storms/disasters/zombies.

I've read Bill's Pemmican post. I have enormous respect for that recipe and undertaking...but my Disaster Pantry must reflect those items we consistently eat. Eating "right" is darned expensive. I've been trying very hard to research "good carbs" and foods that we can eat without causing problems for my husband's A1C levels. What I have been finding is that there are many out there, but their shelf lives are not as long as the foods we were eating.

So! I am hoping more people will chime in with tips and tricks they have used.

I've had to change from white to brown rice. Experts put storage for brown rice at six months. So many of the canned beans I had on the shelf had sugar in them! Down to the Food Bank with them.

I've started stocking bags of beans: pinto, black, kidney, white northern and so on. Lentils, too, which were a surprise, because you can cook lentils in broth and regulate the hardness instead of dealing with the mushy glop that comes in cans. Beans have become a very large portion of our diets now, and I am having great fun trying them with different mixes of dried herbs.

I have stocked up on honey. Although we don't use it, that's my barter batch. The price keeps going up; I'm still stocking up on it because it doesn't go bad.

We have a decent stack of canned meat: chicken, tuna, salmon (ICK) and turkey. There is an alarming amount of sodium combined with meats. I am trying to determine if I need to get a dehydrator and prepare some healthful proteins.

Canned tomato- sauce, chopped, fire-roasted...we go through so many cans that I cannot keep them stocked. I believe I'm going to try my hand at canning veggies, because they are suddenly the focus of our diet instead of garnish.

The above may be very elementary to the majority of people on this forum. I understand that. I find that instead of simply squirreling away four bottles of ketchup in the Disaster Pantry, I am making more thoughtful and careful choices. It's a shift in my mindset.

Thanks for starting this. While it isn't a primary concern for me right now, I know that my father and mother's father were both diabetic. I have a sweet tooth that I no longer indulge the way I once did (not that I don't go overboard on occasion) but as long as I keep an eye on my weight (5'10" and about 160) I think I'm doin' the best thing, as far as prevention goes. Perhaps Fight Doc can dis-abuse me of this notion if I'm mistaken. Since one side of my family runs to the heavy side (at least two have exceded 350 pounds with heights of 5'4" and 6') I don't want to let myself even get started in that direction. Anybody else want to chime in here?

Silence, beans aren't a complete protein, but most of the stuff you add to make them so - wheat, corn, rice - are too high in simple carbs for your spouse. However, you can complete the protein with some meat, fish, poulty, or the like, or stock unflavored whey protein with will accomplish the same thing, and will store for quite a while. Or go with powdered eggs in some form or another. Egg whites will do the trick and are basically flavorless. Lean toward fats and oils to up your calorie count. Neither one are bad for diabetics.

American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere....

read all your labels at the grocery store...you'll be surprised to find sugar in things that you would associate as being sweet tasting. Mayo, for example,( and I'm not talking about just Miracle Whip) blue plate/helmann's has added sugar...what the heck do they add sugar to mayo for??? Most bacon is sugar cured also. Kroger has one of it's store brands that isnt, but it is like twice the price of your run of the mill bacon...the same goes for most salt pork and canned pork products such as hams. Start a garden and can your own. Exercise and keep his weight under control. My FIL has NIDDM and could probably get off of the metformin if he'd lose about 35lbs. Ask your MD to refer you to a registered dietician who specializes in Diabetes.

anotherone- I, too, am a candy addict. When my husband was diagnosed, the doctor told him to go on the South Beach Diet. As we're a team, his diet is now mine. We read the books and removed all of the stuff that the book explained was bad- potatoes, corn, carrots, bread, pop...you name it. It's funny- he thrives on this diet, I'm the one that had carb withdrawals. We don't go nuts with exercise, and the so-called "portion moderation" for meat and vegetables that the book describes is not happening, but we've both lost a lot of weight and his A1C levels are now about .5 from completely normal. But you're right; the potential for diabetes to develop again will always be there.

Bill- Thanks for that tip about the simple whey protein- I picked some up earlier, but as I've not used it before, I forgot all about it! Our lean meat consumption has gone up dramatically, as have our egg consumption (his cholesterol is safe for him to do so), and I'm branching out with cooking with olive oil instead of butter.

AuricTech- That is my long-range goal; I figure I'll end up ruining a couple of batches of veggies first while learning to do it. I do have the Blue Book of canning, though- the prospects are good.

Cajun Napalm (love that handle!)- I know- anything with sugar (or any derivative thereof) that is listed in the first three ingredients goes back on the shelf. This has been an eye-opening experience. Good tip about Kroger's bacon, and I'm working on a container garden but it's not been easy with this ridiculously hot summer.

I was diagnosed as a type 2 non-brittle diabetic back in April 2011. I have started over on food preps. I am canning and drying vegetables that I can have as well as meats. It is not perfect but it is doable.

American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere....